Unable to catch up

January 25, 2013

This is a concerned taxpayers response to the "Dickinson backs 9-1-1 proposal" printed in the Iron Mountain Daily News by Jim Anderson, News Editor, on Tuesday, Jan. 15, 2013.

First, some facts. The 2012 tax bill millage (Dickinson County) (Excludes City and Township) is 9.2703 mills. In 2003 the county millage was 7.2703 mills.

This is an increase of 2.000 mills. (This includes new taxes of Health Dept., .3500 mills; Bay College, 1.000 mills; Senior Citizen increase, .1500 mills; and Road Commission, .5000 mills) and they want more and more.

The 1.000 mill for Bay College is for a Delta County college for 20 years. We still have not heard from Michigan Attorney General if this tax is legal.

Now, the article by News Editor Jim Anderson. When you print "Dickinson backs 9-1-1 proposal," you should clarify that in this case Dickinson is five or maybe six Dickinson County Board of Commissioners.

They would be Henry Wender, Joe Stevens, John Degenaer Jr. Ann Martin, and Frank Smith. (Replaced by Barbara Kramer).

They alone bear all the past 20 years, present, and future problems incurred and occurring. They are blaming the Michigan Public Service Commission for action in 2007 causing this problem.

In 2007, as managers of Dickinson County, they should have stood up like other counties did and corrected the problem. Instead they sluffed it off because they did not have any rules, guidelines, or by-laws to go by. Same old, same old.

This is what I have been trying to tell the Dickinson County taxpayers, citizens, and voters for quite some time. These counties have now and have in the past rules, guidelines, and by-laws to follow when facing and correcting problems such as the 9-1-1 central dispatch.

The five Dickinson County Commissioners are the only county that does not have rules, guidelines, or by-laws to follow and consequently they are living way in the past and are unable to catch up. As all of their programs fail, they only know tax and wastefully spend.

They have not given any notice to us citizens that they have any future plans for anything. All Dickinson County taxpayers, voters, and citizens should vote no on the proposed levy of 0.4 mills for three years starting now with your absentee ballots.

After it is defeated, maybe we as citizens can get enough people together to solve these problems that the five commissioners and Mr. Pete Schlitt cannot without more taxes, taxes, taxes.

Get involved before the governor has to send a manager in to correct the problems.